LA 2024 makes case for Los Angeles' Olympic Games bid to IOC
LOS ANGELES — Confined to a hotel ballroom for most of Wednesday, the Los Angeles 2024 organizers had one of their last chances, and certainly their best, to make the case for their bid.
With the IOC evaluation commission starting its three-day visit, LA 2024 sought to highlight its strengths and address any concerns about its effort to bring the Games to the City of Angels for a third time.
“We have the strongest foundations of any bid in history, so the bid we submitted is the Games we will deliver,” LA 2024 chairman Casey Wasserman said. “That’s really what we mean when we say low risk.”
In meetings at the JW Marriott, bid organizers highlighted a build-up to the Games focused on athlete experience rather than on building venues because no new permanent ones need to be built. They focused on fiscal responsibility and widespread public support.
And they addressed lingering concerns — for Los Angeles, namely, traffic.
“Overall, it was a productive, relaxed and open, frank discussion with no surprises,” said Patrick Baumann, chairman of the evaluation commission. “It is clear that the mayor and the entire Los Angeles 2024 are determined to ensure that the Games will leave a great legacy for the city and this region.”
LA 2024 spent time explaining its plan to have four sports parks, one that allows for cost reduction through shared resources, rather than one large Olympic park. Parks in Long Beach and at the StubHub Center, for example, would offer multiple sports in one secure zone.
“We’re creating venue clusters that exist today and making them the best of what the Olympic sports park concept can be while living within the confines of what exist in our city,” Wasserman said. “They understood that and they’re excited about that, and we think it’s an incredible way to connect and embrace the city broadly.”
Bid organizers elaborated on their plan to use the Coliseum and the new NFL stadium for the opening ceremony. The torch relay would proceed through the Coliseum, which would have its own entertainment, and progress to the NFL stadium, where the traditional parade of nations would take place.
“We think it could be a brilliant idea to have the Coliseum celebrating the history of the Olympics from its birth in classical times going through it’s rebirth in 1896 and a place where 1932 and 1984 it was there,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti.
“You mark history but you make history at the same time.”
On Thursday, LA 2024 will have a chance to highlight one of its biggest strengths — its almost exclusive use of existing venues.
While Paris, the only remaining competitor for the 2024 Games, has big-ticket items to build in an athlete village and swimming pool, L.A. will only need to build temporary venues or retrofit existing ones.
“If today was low risk, tomorrow is opportunity, the second part of our answer to why L.A. in 2024,” Wasserman said. “Tomorrow we’re going to try to show the IOC what we can spend the next seven years doing instead of pouring time, money and concrete into complex, controversial and costly construction.”
